"Damn it—PROJECT moved this fast?! And what kind of firepower is that?! They could go head-to-head with a regular army!"
Butz cursed under his breath as he sprinted for the exit, fear impossible to hide in his voice.
He knew the Maelstrom gang was likely finished this time—but he didn't believe they'd disappear entirely. As long as he survived, there would always be a chance to rise again.
Under normal circumstances, his thinking wouldn't have been wrong. The Maelstrom gang had existed for a very long time, and its creed resonated with plenty of people on the streets.
Their numbers stayed high, especially among criminals—for many of them, Maelstrom was the perfect place to end up.
More importantly, Maelstrom had been entrenched in Night City for years. They controlled vast territory and commanded huge numbers. To corporations, they were a pack of rabid dogs that bit anyone they got near.
Spending enormous resources to wipe them out brought little benefit. On the contrary, their feral nature could be put to good use—so Maelstrom had been allowed to exist and grow all this time.
But now, things were different.
With the New United States pushing its Unification War, stability was crucial. Variables had to be minimized as much as possible. As the most uncontrollable gang in Night City, Maelstrom was a liability Militech wanted to reduce.
At the same time, they also wanted to suppress both the Tyger Claws and PROJECT. So they hired the Maelstrom gang—if Maelstrom succeeded, great. If not, they'd simply let the gang disappear and send their white-glove proxies to clash with the Tyger Claws instead.
As for the Voodoo Boys… those guys were too busy locking horns with the NetWatch crowd to bother with Night City right now.
"No need to struggle any further…"
Just as Butz was about to burst out of the alley onto the main street, a ghostlike voice whispered beside his ear.
Without hesitation, his right arm snapped open, Mantis Blades deploying as he slashed backward.
A slicing sound mixed with crackling electricity rang out. Butz twisted his body and spun around.
Pyke stood silently in front of him.
A chill ran down Butz's scalp. He was sure he'd hit something—felt the blade cut through it. Yet the scene before him told a different story. Pyke stood there completely unharmed.
Behind Pyke, energy blades shaped like fish tails drifted and gathered, slowly forming into a harpoon attached to a long chain.
Clang!
Pyke tightened his grip as the harpoon dropped to the ground with a crisp metallic ring. With a flick of his wrist, the chain began to spin.
Seeing this, Butz lunged forward. The Berserk Cyberware at the back of his neck activated instantly, converting the surge from Heroic Charge into pure acceleration.
Bang!
In the blink of an eye, Butz was right in front of Pyke, Mantis Blades flashing. Pyke could even feel the scorching heat radiating from the blades.
"Sleep… sleep…"
Swish—
A black shadow flickered past. Butz's pupils shrank as Pyke vanished from his sight. A violent electric shock coursed through his body, and he immediately lost all control.
The chain wrapped around him completely.
"Another soul to harvest."
With a sound like overlapping scales, the chain in Pyke's hand shattered into countless razor-sharp energy blades.
"No—no, no, no!!"
Swish—
Blood and flesh hit the ground. Pyke flicked his wrist, and the chain retracted, reforming into a reverse-grip blade. The blade pulsed faintly, flickering like a living breath.
He walked over to Butz's scattered remains, crouched down, and picked up the chip.
"My side's done. You can send people to take over."
"Copy."
After reporting in, Pyke melted back into the darkness.
Meanwhile, Vilet had already finished clearing the Maelstrom gang's largest stronghold. The remaining small fry weren't worth her attention—though she could deal with them if she felt like it.
When Roland saw the footage from Vilet's side, his eye twitched.
There was no other way to describe it—Vilet fighting Maelstrom members who had activated Berserk Cyberware was more bulldozer-like than an actual bulldozer.
Thankfully, the base she hit wasn't one Roland needed. Otherwise, repairs alone would have cost a fortune, not to mention later renovations and reconstruction.
Ironically, the side that worried Roland the least was Kiwi's. The disturbance there was minimal—probably because everyone sent over was focused on long-range combat.
Roland felt enlightened. Next time he assigned Vilet to an operation where buildings mattered, he'd pair her with Night Owl Robots.
Looking at Kiwi's area, almost all she'd done was eliminate Maelstrom members, with barely any structural damage.
That likely came down to fighting style.
Roland rubbed his chin. After all, both Kiwi and the Night Owl Robots were, in a sense, assassination-type units.
At that moment, Kiwi was sitting on top of a crate, casually twirling a set of keys. Below her lay several Maelstrom members who had rushed in headfirst—only to be shot down.
Aside from crossbow bolt wounds, their bodies also bore several horrifying blade marks. Clearly, someone hadn't relied purely on long-range sniping.
"Alpha prototype units… both the boss and Yi use this model. Is there some connection between the two of them?"
In Kiwi's vision, surveillance footage from her earlier operation with Roland was playing. She hadn't deleted it completely—keeping a copy for herself.
Using Purification's scanning function, she identified Yi's body model in the footage. It matched perfectly with the scan she'd taken of Roland back in the office.
The appearance was different, but that could easily be concealed with synthetic skin, so…
"Very suspicious…"
Roland, meanwhile, had no idea what Kiwi was thinking. He was happily reviewing the gains from this operation. Of course, the biggest payoff hadn't arrived yet—true settlement would only come after the Maelstrom gang was fully purged from Watson District over the next few days.
Roland was already preparing to acquire two more Templates.
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser